Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Who is John Galt? Well you’ll have to read the book to find out, but this is a recurring and enigmatic questions asked throughout the book. Atlas Shrugged holds an interesting place for those in the liberty community, some love it and some do not. I personally found this book to be very formative. I first read it when I still considered myself a Republican with conservative leanings and it definitely opened up my mind to a different point of view and prepared the way for my path to the principles of liberty. The book is about an overbearing US government, sounds familiar, that is regulating the economy into the ground, and every bad result caused by the government is then tried to be fixed by the government, ad infinitum. Then all of a sudden people begin to disappear, and the only thing they seem to have in common is that they are industrious , hardworking, independent people. As these kinds of people continue to disappear and the government solutions become more and more liberty-killing things obviously get worse and worse. The book focuses on Dagny Taggart, who runs a family railroad company, Hank Rearden, the owner of a steel company, and John Galt, the man who "stops the motor of world." There are other very good characters as well. This is a long read at time, but there are some great speeches interspersed throughout the book from many of the characters. The basic philosophy is Objectivism, a philosophy that Ms. Rand created. She basically splits the people of the world into three categories, producers, looters, and moochers. The latter two obviously taking from the producers. The book shows the result when there are fewer and fewer producers, all that is left is moochers and looters. I do feel like the US and many Western countries are moving in this direction. Like many other dystopian novels, it is very prophetic in a lot of ways. He is a good read for anyone who wants a better idea of what a hyperactive government bureaucracy can look like.
The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose
This book is simply awesome. Larken Rose does an amazing job laying out in plain English why the belief in the legitimacy of government authority is the Most Dangerous Superstition. I think it would be best to give you a quote directly from the book itself. “The belief in “authority,” which includes all belief in “government,” is irrational and self-contradictory; it is contrary to civilization and morality, and constitutes the most dangerous, destructive superstition that has ever existed. Rather than being a force for order and justice, the belief in “authority” is the arch-enemy of humanity.” He argues that the belief in the need for government is at its core a religious belief, illogical and immoral. This is essential reading in my opinion. While most of the time libertarians and anarchists make the argument against government on practical and economic grounds, this book gives tools to argue the moral, logical, and emotional. Since statists get their worldview from their emotions, it is good to have some arguments that can appeal to those emotions.
An Agorist Primer: Counter-Economics, Total Freedom, and You by Samuel Edward Konkin III
In short, this is a practical guide about how to live free in a government-controlled world. In Konkin’s own words, “Agorism is a way of thinking about the world around you, a method of understanding why things work the way they do, how they do, and how they can be dealt with – how you can deal with them.” The primary tool an Agorist uses to achieve this is Counter-Economics, which is the philosophy of engaging in free-market activities in defiance of government control. This includes things like using cash as much as possible to avoid any records that the government can track and tax, bartering, trading in the black and grey markets, which is just another name for the free-market, as opposed to the government regulated white markets. The reasoning behind the practice of Agorism and Counter-Economics is two-fold, to starve the state over time by not participating in its coercive markets, thus not funding the government’s ability to enslave us, and to live a principled life even in the middle of an unprincipled, statist world. This differs from other forms of Anarchism which compromise on principles now because we don’t have a truly free society yet. Agorists believe that there should be consistency between means and ends, unlike the Libertarian Party, for example, who want to use the coercive state apparatus to bring about a free society. This book motivated me to be more principled in the way I live and to be a free person right now instead of saying that I cannot behave like a free person until the world lets me do it. I also love how the book shows you how to practically combat the state in peaceful, nonaggressive, and non-coercive ways. I truly believe that the fall of the state will not come about through violence, or voting, or changing it from the inside, peaceful noncompliance is the way forward, and this book can begin to show you the way to that end.
No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority by Lysander Spooner
"But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain --- that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist." I personally believe the US Constitution was designed to bring about the kind of government that we have, but even if it wasn’t a piece of paper with some words on it cannot and will never stop a government from doing what it wants to do. No Treason is another classic in the Anarchist’s library. Lysander Spooner was a lawyer by training and a staunch abolitionist. In this book of essays, he advocates for natural law, including the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which he believed every human received at birth, regardless of race or gender or anything else. He believed that the Constitution did not protect these rights and even gave the government power to violate these rights. The most important part of the essays to me is “The Constitution of no Authority”. In this essay he explains how the constitution does not, should not, and cannot apply to anyone living now. The reason being is that the Constitution is basically a contract and can only apply to those who have accepted the terms and signed the contract. Even if every person living within the bounds of the US had signed the contract at the time of its writing and agreed to follow its rules, which they didn’t, it was only signed by a small number of oligarchs, it would not have any legal authority to apply to any person born afterwards, or the people at the time who did not sign, unless they were given the opportunity to read, agree to, and sign the contract themselves. This has never happened and will never happen. These laws have been forced on everyone under the threat of violence which the state has a monopoly on. This books helped me understand just how illegitimate the government’s authority actually is. Oh, and taxation is theft.
Brave New World by Aldous Leonard Huxley
The final book on my list is this fantastic story by Aldous Huxley. This is one of those books that everyone says they plan on reading, but usually never get around to reading it. Don’t be that person. Go and read it. It is strikingly prophetic for a book written back in the 1930s. It is about a dystopian future world where all aspects of society are centrally planned, even genetically breeding different classes of people for certain types of jobs, Alphas being the highest rank in the social order. Marriage and families are a thing of the past. Men and women do not have babies together anymore. Children are only made in the labs. Men and women are encouraged to be very promiscuous and never become attached to anyone or anything. They even encourage and require children to play practice sex games during their breaks from indoctrination class. The theme that most stuck with me was the way the entire society was designed to make sure that people never had the time to be alone or stop and contemplate anything. From a very early age they are taught that then need to always be busy with other people. It is actually considered somewhat selfish for anyone to choose to stay at home alone instead of joining in the group activities. The society is also designed to make sure that no one should ever feel any sort of discomfort or stress of any kind. They even have a drug called soma that has been designed to have no side effects and no physically addictive qualities. This drug is readily available to everyone, and its effect is to put one into a state of bliss and contentment. It is described as taking a trip somewhere else basically. People literally never have to feel anything negative or stress or crying or any real feelings at all. I know that may sound a bit attractive to some, but the book makes a good case opposed to that notion. I see a lot of similarity between the social engineering in the book and the present world. People today almost never have time to themselves anymore. They are either watching “reality TV” or something else on TV. With smart phones people are constantly in contact with and talking to each other or looking at Facebook or Twitter or play a game or listening to music or some other app. People rarely have time to themselves anymore to sit and think about something, especially since most of their day is taking up with drudgery, like school, AKA government indoctrination camps, or unfulfilling jobs for adults. The result of this is that most people have their ideas given to them in one way or another, whether it is government indoctrination camps or movies or the mainstream media. I highly suggest this book because it can give one a picture about where we could be headed and think about how to stop it.
Thanks for reading this long post. I apologize for being away for a while. I hope I have motivated you to check out some or all of these books. I would love to hear about some of the books that influenced you as well. See you next time!